Hello, welcome to Psych Reviews.
I did a recent review on the Mahasi Technique by Mahasi Sayadaw and Daniel Ingram from the
website The Dharmaoverground, and I got a request by a Noah D from that forum to review
a book by an influencer on the pragmatic dharma scene.
His name is Bill Hamilton.
He wrote a book called Saints and Psychopaths, that is as eclectic as his background, which
includes Christianity, Buddhism, Psychology, and even his experiences in business before
his move towards a spiritual lifestyle.
His story is relatable for a lot of spiritual people, when they grow up with the modern
culture, but end up developing a distaste for greed, hatred, and delusion found in it.
For Bill, it was his business dealings, and the kind of negativity it would condition.
He wanted to escape the business psychopaths into spirituality, only to find that psychopaths
are there as well.
This is where his story begins.
The book neatly separates psychopaths from saints, going from the dark to the light in
the experience of reading the book.
Bill uses the term psychopath in a general way, and focuses more on the actual behaviours.
Most of what he describes could be in the Cluster B personality disorder list, and is
not exclusive to Anti-social personality disorder.
He traces his experiences with false teachers, and a damaging encounter with a love partner,
that is eerily similar to most books on how the cycle of abuse works.
That's why it's a cycle, because the pattern is very universal.
The mean and sweet cycle, and Jekyll and Hyde behaviour exemplified by his partner Mukti.
His theory on how these personalities develop are an unsatisfying upbringing that causes
the child to revenge on the world, leading to predatory behaviour for the rest of their
lives.
His story with Mukti is also another reminder of co-dependency, that Bill calls a co-psychopath.
With overly nice people who don't have boundaries, including "turn-the-other-cheek" Christians,
and pacifist Buddhists.
Nice people can end up in relationships with predators.
It's a warning that no matter how spiritual you are, a certain section of the population
will look at you only as a way to get food, clothing, shelter, sex, and money.
They will not see your spirituality, only your utility.
As the reader moves to the middle of the book, Bill increases our clarity of what true spirituality
is.
He made a list that he wants all spiritual practitioners to keep nearby, as a reminder
of the goal, which is a good reason to get the book.
Since all people have some predatory behaviour, it's a splash of cold water to remind people
to not get lost on the spiritual path.
The list separates saintly and psychopathic behaviour so that there is no confusion.
If you get lost you can look at the list and make a correction.
As he describes how saints behave he starts describing the progress of enlightenment.
Many Buddhist books that have a section of enlightenment maps and this one is no different.
Because of his eclectic background he tries to find the commonality of all the maps.
For example Bill was part of the Snowmass Contemplative Group, which was a contemplative
group from many different religions and philosophies.
The agreed on 7 principles of enlightenment that bridged common ground.
1) The potential for enlightenment is in every person.
2) The human mind cannot comprehend ultimate reality, but ultimate reality can be experienced.
3) The ultimate reality is the source of all existence.
4) Faith is opening, accepting & responding to ultimate reality.
5) Confidence in oneself is rooted in the ultimate reality & is the necessary corollary
to faith in the ultimate reality.
6) As long as the human experience is experienced as separate from the ultimate reality it is
subject to ignorance, illusion, weakness and suffering.
7) Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual journey, yet spiritual attainment
is not the result of one's effort but the experience of oneness with ultimate reality.
As the reader progresses through the map, Bill points out some really important things
practitioners need to do to improve their practice.
Firstly he believes that access to enlightened teachers, the more enlightened the better,
will improve your practice.
He doesn't think that anyone method is better as long as there is a "profound examination
of the present moment."
He also emphasizes that a method should not be mixed with another, and meditators must
follow the instructions as given in order to progress.
To reach the first level of enlightenment the meditator has to observe precisely what
is happening without trying to manipulate what is happening, and do this with equanimity
towards pleasant and unpleasant phenomenon.
The book ends up talking about what it's like when a person is enlightened, and how difficult
it is talk about it.
Many teachers avoid calling themselves enlightened because of how students might take their early
meditation experiences and make false claims that match the descriptions of their masters.
The mind can fool itself and make a conceited ego claim that prevents observation of experience.
So if I could summarize the messages in this book, I would say that Bill wants you to understand
that you need to...Find an enlightened teacher, and distinguish the genuine article from the
psychopath, by observing their behaviour over time.
Avoid altering the instructions.
Make a profound examination of the present moment without trying to manipulate it.
Maintain equanimity towards pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
Avoid making your experiences fit a map.
Bill concludes with prescient predictions of a melding of the scientific method and
different enlightment traditions, that is flourishing today.
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